Movie Review thread.

[Lazer LXXVII]

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011)
Rating: 7/10
Fun: 8/10

Ethan Hawk and his unit as disavowed from the IMF after they are blamed for the bombing of the Kremlin in Russia. The group finds out of a madman getting his hands on nuclear weapons, and the group must put a stop to his plan without the aid of the IMF.

I had high expectations for this movie for a few reasons. Because I really didn't like Mission Impossible 1 or 2, and I thought 3 was a pretty alright action movie. The trailers made MI4 seem like an over the top action movie, but the problem was that most of the major scenes (if not all) were all shown in the the trailers and TV spots. So as you're watching the movie, you realize none of it is really a surprise, and it just feels like an elaborated trailer (granted that its 2+ hours long). Anyway, the plot was thin, not that I was expecting anything better. The acting was good for the type of movie that it was, but nothing truly impressive. The action was awesome at times, however, like I mentioned, it just sucks that many of the major scenes were spoiled in the trailers. Some of the scenes were absolutely awesome, such as the Burj Dubai, but then a lot of the other scenes were a little disappointing (still good, but I wanted more). Although I am complaining a lot, I had fun with the movie. It was a pretty simple action movie, not as extraordinary as I expected, but I really enjoyed it. I doubt I would ever go back to watch it again unfortunately. It felt a little long and dragged out occasionally, but like I said, it was an enjoyable movie.


Warrior (2011)
Rating: 9/10
Fun: 9.5/10

A former Marine turns to his once alcoholic father to train him for a huge MMA tournament. Another fighter, a high school physics teacher, enters the tournament because of his previous MMA background, and desperately needs money to pay for his bills, or else he will lose his home.

I didn't know what to expect with this movie, seemed good, but also seemed like it would end up as a total flop. With the director of Miracle behind it, I knew it had potential to be a good sports movie. I was very impressed with this movie. I am not sure what exactly is considered a spoiler because everything about this movie was vague early on, and the trailers didn't explain much, so I didn't really elaborate on the plot. But I can safely say its nothing too complex, but it definitely goes deeper than what I stated. The way the plot was presented was a little irritating, but at the same time, very intriguing. You start out knowing nothing, and every so often, you find out one bit of backstory for both of the fighters. Its down to the last 20 or 30 minutes where you keep learning backstory about the fighters, and then it finally comes together. For a sports movie, this just felt like a weird way to present the plot. At first the characters seem shallow, but they develop well throughout the movie. The plot was great in the end, there were a few scenes that were really sad, nearly bringing me to tears, which was not expected for an MMA movie. The acting was pretty solid, both major actors played their roles very well, and everyone else also did a great job. Also lots of cameos by several major figures in MMA, which was pretty cool. The fighting was pretty awesome, however, as a fan of MMA, its a little over the top here. I understand a lot of the fights in the movie were intended to be amateur fights, but there were way too many slams. Without ruining the movie, some of the refereeing would NEVER fly in the UFC. So it felt pretty glorified, but it was still good. Now I understand the movie can't be 3.5 hours long and have a bunch of full fights, but it was a little upsetting that most of the fights ended within 10 seconds, or were 1.5 minute summaries of the 3 rounds. But the end of the movie left me wanting more, just because it ends without ever answering questions. And for a movie that is 2 hours long, it didn't feel that long, and I really wouldn't have minded if they elaborated on the plot more in depth for another hour more. Excellent movie, comparable to Rocky, but I still prefer the Rocky movies over this. Highly recommended for everyone, its one of those sports movies that will make you care, even if you hate the sport.


Final Destination 5 (2011)
Rating: 1/10
Fun: 3/10

A group of people "cheat" death because someone has a premonition of a freak bridge accident, and they are being killed off one by one in freak accidents.

I only saw Final Destination 2 before this, and I remember thinking it was stupid. Three movies later, its still stupid. I never understood the point of these movies, the accidents aren't cool, the gore isn't anything that will give you an adrenaline rush (Saw for example, the gore makes it kind of a "ride"), its not really funny, there is no story, nothing. I just don't get how they made more than 1 of these movies, someone has to like this kind of stuff. And this is coming from the guy who enjoyed Mega Piranha, the awful B movie, because that was so horrible that it was hilarious. This movie is just pointless, I really don't see the point of it. I think its intended to be funny? I'll admit, I laughed really hard at one of the scenes, but other than that, it was just stupid. I know its not a movie about a plot and characters, but in Mega Piranha, its obvious they are acting bad on purpose, but in this movie, it seems like the actors really do try, but its just awful. The best part about this movie is the ending, and not the grand finale, I mean the fact that it ends. I will never understand the point of this series, and how the hell they continue making them. I wanted to give the fun rating a little more just because the one funny scene was hilarious, but it didn't seem fair to give it that much for one scene. So I thought 3 seemed fair. Pointless movie, avoid.

[stillman]

Warrior was alright. It borrowed too heavily from Rocky, but they made the fights interesting. Aren't there two Warriors? Oops.

By the end, the premise becomes like three lightning bolts striking the impact point of two stray bullets in a hurricane (i.e. too unlikely). But I do appreciate the efforts to explain this with a sport where "anything can happen." Sadly, we're stuck with a movie about Mr. Grumps, his worthless trash father, Oh--and his half retarded coked out brother, Mr. Frowny Frown Face. I found myself feeling no sympathy at all for the teacher who is about to loose his two storey house and make his hot wife mad. I live in a one bedroom apartment alone, so this character is a complete sissy as far as I'm concerned. It's really a "my indoor swimming pool isn't deep enough!" movie.

Apart from all that, I'd recommend it for the fights.

[BobCox2]

Book VS Movie Review.

[Leopold Stotch]

hahahahahahaha! Books FTW!

[Lazer LXXVII]

Contagion (2011)
Rating: 7.5/10
Fun: 7.5/10

A fatal new virus outbreak begins to take lives of individuals all across the world. As weeks go by, the virus claims millions of lives, as the tension across the world grows.

This was a good, but strange movie. To me, it seemed like it probably should have been one of those long specials on some cable channel that asks what if an untreatable virus broke out? It just felt like one of those types of movies, rather than a feature length movie theater type movie. Like it felt like Hollywood had no influence over this movie at all (with the exception of the major actors), meaning that it didn't have a developing love story, or some revenge plot, or action scenes with explosions, or disgusting blood and gore, or really any point to it at all. The only point to it was to demonstrate how certain fictional characters/roles would respond to the crisis, and potential things that would happen in our society. It was a bunch of separate characters, and most of them never met one another, and there wasn't some event where they all ended up meeting in the end. Not that it was bad, not in any way. It really got you thinking about how something like this is extremely possible, even if we are fully aware of it. It just helps you get the whole picture of "what if SARS was unstoppable". The movie was designed well for what it did, like I said it was a series of totally unrelated stories, but it flowed EXTREMELY well. Even though you were jumping from character to character, it all felt like a really smooth flowing movie. It had some powerful scenes, for example a mass burial of the dead/infected, which were excellent in terms of emotion. However, like I mentioned before, Hollywood barely had an influence on this movie, and even those were extremely limited. The acting was good, granted that none of the characters had any depth whatsoever. I was disappointed with the end though, again, no Hollywood, so it was just "oh alright". Again, it was a good movie, and it was enjoyable, it just wasn't anything that will win any awards. If they remade this same exact movie, except with some more drama, a real plot, real characters, etc, this version would still have advantages. However it wouldn't have felt like one of those TV specials. Excellent movie though, but I can see a lot of people disliking it. Its not for everyone, if you have an interest in anything like this, give it a shot. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I was expecting something different.

[BobCox2]

Laser;
Did you ever see The Andromeda Strain
If so how did it compare?

[Lazer LXXVII]

Laser;
Did you ever see The Andromeda Strain
If so how did it compare?

Never heard of it! I might look into it, that concept is really interesting to me.

[stillman]

The Road (2009)
Rating: Best post-apocalypse movie ever!

A man and his son travel South while scavenging for food about 10 years after the collapse of society.

This movie doesn't give you pointless details we don't need, like characters' names and what caused the apocalypse. It has an amazing premise: because all the plants and animals died, the only way people can survive is by scavenging or cannibalizing. Thus, the film makes a clear cut distinction between the good and evil paths.

Most people think of Mad Max 2 for great dystopian movies, but Mad Max 2 is more about raw entertainment with fireballs and such. The Road is realistic and brutal.

[Lazer LXXVII]

^great movie

[Leopold Stotch]

The Road (2009)
Rating: Best post-apocalypse movie ever!

A man and his son travel South while scavenging for food about 10 years after the collapse of society.

This movie doesn't give you pointless details we don't need, like characters' names and what caused the apocalypse. It has an amazing premise: because all the plants and animals died, the only way people can survive is by scavenging or cannibalizing. Thus, the film makes a clear cut distinction between the good and evil paths.

Most people think of Mad Max 2 for great dystopian movies, but Mad Max 2 is more about raw entertainment with fireballs and such. The Road is realistic and brutal.

i think i had to read that for an English class. It's by McCarthy, right? I never did read it, but my classmates loathed the writing style of it. Something about hardly any punctuation and lots of run-ons.